Development of sports tourism in selected regions of Kenya: perceptions of tourists and government officials
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Date
2013-10-15
Authors
Muhalia, Chumba Janet
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess the perceptions of tourists and government
officials on the development of sports tourism in selected regions of Kenya. A Survey
research design was adopted for the study. The independent variables that were assessed
included, sports as a pull factor that interest tourist to the Kenyan market, the extend of
sports facilities, hosting of international sports event, cultural sporting activities, beach
sports, high and low attitudes training centers, sports for sports icons. The study also
looked at effectiveness of marketing, the level of security and political stability. A
validated self administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. The sample size of
776 respondents that were randomly selected for the study included 46 government
officials from the Ministry in-charge of Sports and Ministry in-charge of Tourism in the
headquarters Nairobi, and 730 both local and international tourists who resided in starred
hotels and high altitude training centre within the eight tourism circuit were also visited
for data collection. The eight tourism circuits included central Kenya region, Nairobi,
coastline, southerri region, eastern region, north rift, south rift and western Kenya. Chisquare
was used to analyze the data. The findings indicated that sport is a pull factor for
the tourists who visit the Kenyan market 564(77.3%) tourists and 37(80.45%)
government officials agreed that sports was a significant activity in attracting tourists in
the Kenyan market. On average 190(26%) of the tourists were of the view that facilities
and infrastructure were not adequate while30( 65%) of the government official were of
the same view. 252(34:4%) tourists were of the view that security and political stability
was not fully explored for the development of sports tourism in Kenya. 24(52.2%) of the
government officials were of the view that Kenya is capable of hosting major
international sports events while 221(30.4%) disagreed on the same.14( 30.4%) of the
government officials did not agree on the promotion of cultural activities while
290(39.7%) of the tourist were of the view that cultural event was a viable product for
the development of sports tourism. 363(46.77%) of both tourists and government
officials were of the view that high altitude training centers were fully explored for
sports tourism development but when-it come to low altitude 396(51.03%) of both had
no opinion. 117(16%) of the tourists 'were of the view that organization of sports for
Kenya's sports icons was not fully explored while 16(34.73%) of the government
officials were of the view that it was fully explored. Ministries in-charge of Sports and
Tourism needs to encourage sports tourism as a package in the Kenyan market.
Recreational sporting facilities should be a requirement for starred hotels in Kenya. The
Ministry of Youth Affairs Sports and Tourism should market sports tourism as a tourism
package. Ministries in-charge of Sports and Tourism should beef up security; create
more high and low altitude centers, and stadia to host cultural sporting events. Ministries
in-charge of Sports and Tourism through the Ministry in-charge of Sports and Ministry
in-charge of Tourism need to expand sports tourism as a package and encourage its
growth in Kenya.
Description
Department of Recreation management and Exercise Science. 78p. 2013
G 156.5 .S6C49